Manufacture of shoes



Aug" 30, 1927.

1,640,362 J. J. MAHLER ET AL MANUFACTURE OF SHOES ile 09's. 1! 1921 //v vmm/vs.

Patented Aug. 30, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J'. MAHLER, OF NEW YORK, AND HORACE D. WEBB, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY. I

MANUFACTURE or (SHOES:

Application filed October 1, 1921. Serial No. 504,573.

This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes, and more particularly concerns the stiffening of parts of the upper, as at the rear or counter-portion. It is of especial utility in connection with shoes of felt or other fabric. It has been customary in making such shoes to cut the upper from a; single piece of material. and close the back seam by a row of stitching. A piece of fabric is then sewed along its upper edge to the rear of the upper to furnish a pocket, open, at the bottom. These operations are performed while the upper is wrong side out. In preparation for lasting the shoe, the upper, which has had the bottom seam close and is right side out, is taken by a workman, turned at the heel to expose and open the pocket, one of the inner walls of which is heavily coated with paste applied by a flattened stick. Then a pasteboard counter, taken from water in which it has been soaking, is bent to enter the pocket and inserted therein, where it receives a coating of paste on the opposite side from that next the previously coated surface of the pocket. The operator,'after pasting, settles the counter into place, presses it and the pocketwalls together, and turns the shoe-portion to its normal position, whereupon the work goes to the laster. Hedips the heel and toe-portions of the upper in water, and draws it upon a last, and in preparation for the pulling-over and securing of the upper, with a maul beats the heel-seat edge of the counter to the contour of the last, devoting a substantial amount of time to this. It is to be noted that this method of procedure necessitates the use of two articlesa pock et-piece and a co1inter-piece-for the stifl'en ing arrangement; that the paste is naturally applied irregularly, in indeterminate quan tities and in a way tending to daub and deface the upper and its trimming; and that the labor involved in applying and forming the stiffener is considerable. Moreover, the pasteboard counter, when dry, breaks down readily. Shoes, even in the factory in such after-operations as trimming and finishing the sole-edges and heels, are frequently injured in this way. The present invention has among its objects the accomplishment of the stiffening of the desired shoe-portion contacts, as the adjacent portion of the upper, and to harden upon evaporation of the solvent to stiffen. the material which it enters. The stiffening substance may be in the form of a dried coating of adhesive on a counter-shaped piece of shoe-stock, or it may be a separate wafer. As we have chosen to herein more specifically disclose the invention, a suitable material, preferably fibrous, as felt, is coated with a substance such as a gum and dried. From this stock a piece is taken, formed to fit a shoe-upper at the portion which is to be stiffened, which \may be the heel-end. This piece, when attached, as'by sewing in the stitching room, to the desired shoe-portion and the associated elements moistened and pressed together, as by--the shrinking of the upper upon the last in drying, will conform perfectly to the last, and by the penetration of the soluble substance into the upper, will furnish an homogeneous and resilient stiffening structure. This is accomplished without a separately inserted counter-element in additon to the attached fabric, without the use of adhesive applied during the assembling, and with complete elimination of one workmanthe paster and counter-inserterin the chain of operations, together with a simplification in the duties of another workman, since the laster is not required to form the counter.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 represents an upper inside out and havingv its rear portion closed by a back seam;

Fig. 2 represents. a coated counter-piece; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional detail of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 shows the rear portion of the upper after the counter-piece has been attached, the upper being still inside out; and

ends are curved, and the seam 4 is extended longitudinally of the sole-portion, partly across the heel-seat. A counter-piece 6, which may be of some fibrous material, as is the upper, is prepared of the shape indicated in Fig. 2. The counter-piece is cut, conveniently by means of a die, from stock which carries upon one of its faces acoating, as indicated at 8 (Fig. 3), of a stiffening substance, which may consist largely of a starchy adhesive, as the artificial gum dextrine. It is to be understood, however, that it is within our invention to employ for coating the stiffening stock any substance which may be softened or dissolved by suitable treatment, as by subjecting it to the action of a liquid solvent. Preferably, the gum 8 is put on in athick uniform, superticial layer, of such consistency that it will not penetrate deeply beneath the surface of the felt, if felt is used. When dry, it will clin to the felt, becoming a resilient solid.

The coated stifl'ener 6 is applied to the upper with gummed facev next to said upper, as indicated by Fig. 4, while the upper is still inside out, and sewed along its curved edge by a seam 10.. The upper is now turned right side out, and the bottom closed from the point on the heel-seat where the seam l stops to a point near the toe, the edges preferably being abutted and connected by a zigzagseam' 12, as appears in Fig. 5. The upper is now ready to be shaped on the last.

To facilitate the shaping of a felt upper to its last, it is usual to dip the heel and toeportions in water, and then force it. upon the last. When the upper has been prepared in accordance with the present invention, the wetting of the rear portion causes the gum on the counter-piece to be softened or dissolved, and to penetrate both the counter-piece and the upper. While wet, the presence of the gum causes no additional resistance to be presented to the insertion of the last, and theupper assumes the form of the last without the usual shaping and pounding, which is resorted to when a separate stiffener is pasted between the upper and a counter-pocket. Hence, by our 'method is eliminated not only the turning of the upper inside out, the necessarily uncleanly-and laborious operation of past ing the inside of the counter-pocket and counter-stifiener and the inconvenient operand the cost of the gum applied to the counter is insignificant as compared with the cost ofa separate stiffener and the necessary considerable quantity of paste.

After applying the upper to the last, it is Y adjusted thereon, and its toe-portion pulled over and secured. The upper is dried on the last, and its material and that of the stiffening piece shrink, conforming very perfectly to said last, and at the same time pressing the two elements, with the intermediate adhesive, together. Since the work is on its last, the drying takes place largely from the outer surface .of the upper inwardly, with theresult that as the .gum penetrates the opposite surfaces with which it contacts, more is deposited in the upper than in the counter-piece. The upper being of absorbent material, as the outer portion becomes dry, the solution of gum in the inner portion is drawn outwardly by capillary action, and hence, as the drying progrosses inwardly, the gum becomes distributed outwardly through the upper, causing.

counter-portion which, while amply and uniformly stiffened to preserve the form to which it is lasted, is extremely resilient and resistive to breaking down in handling and wear; it is free from defacement by adhesive upon its trimmings or other visible portions; and these advantages are obtained with a decreased cost of manufacture.

Having thus described'our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The method of making felt shoes, which consists in sewing together a shoe-upper and an absorbent counter-piece, said counterpiece carrying a water-soluble adhesive and being dried before such attachment, immersing the upper with the attached counterpiece in water, placing the thus-moistened upper upon a last, and evaporating the water to shrink the upper upon the last and conform it to th counter-piece.

2. That improvement in methods of making felt shoes, which consists in providing a felt stiffening piece with a layer of a soluble substance confined to one surface, applying the stiffening piece to the end-portion of a felt upper, moistening the upper and applied stifi'ening piece with a solvent for the substance, placing the moistened upper and stiffening piece on a last, and drying them upon said last.

3. That improvement in methods of making shoes, which consists in providing a counter-piece with a layer of a soluble substance confined to one surface, sewing the counter-piece to a shoe-upper with the layer in contact therewith and the opposite uncoated surface of the piece exposed at the inside of the shoe, immersing the upper and attached counter-piece in a solvent for the substance, placing the upper and counter on a last, and drying them upon said last.

4. That improvement in methods of making shoes, which consists in providing an upper and counter-piece of absorbent material sewn together, one of the meeting surfaces of the upper and stiffener being coated with water-soluble gum, closing the upper, wetting the upper and stiffener-piece to dissolve the gum, lasting the upper, and drying the upper on the last.

5. That improvement in methods of making shoes, which consists in preparing a counter-piece having a coating of water-SOL.

uble adhesive, attaching the counter-piece to thevinner face of the rear portion of an upper with the coated face next to the upper,

wetting the counter-piece and upper to render them flexible and to soften the adhesive, lasting the upper and counter-piece to shape them, and then drying the shoe.

6. The method of making shoes which consists in assembling a shoe-portion and a stiffening piece with an intermediate soluble substance, subjecting the shoe-portion and the stiffening piece to the action of a solvent for the substance, and causing the shoe-portion to dry more rapidly than the stiffening piece and thus causing the solution to penetrate the shoe-portion to a greater extent than the stiffening piece.

' 7. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in providing an upper and a counter-piece of absorbent material, one of said parts being provided with a su erficial layer of water-soluble gum, attachlng the counter-piece to the upper, wetting the upper and counter-piece, placing the upper upon a last, and drying the shoe on the last from the outside inwardly to cause the dissolved gum to work outwardly.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

, JOHN J. MAHLER. HORACE D. WEBB. 

